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Thursday, 25 May 2017

UN CHIEF WANTS $40.5 MILLION FOR HAITI CHOLERA VICTIMS

UN CHIEF WANTS $40.5 MILLION FOR
HAITI CHOLERA VICTIMS

UNITED NATIONS- Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres is asking UN member states to transfer $40.5 million in
unspent funds from Haiti's peacekeeping mission to help communities and victims
of a cholera outbreak that has afflicted over 800,000 people, according to a
report released Tuesday.

Guterres said in the report to
the Security Council that the money is desperately needed for a trust fund that
the UN had hoped would raise $400 million to provide aid to the families of
victims and afflicted communities, and to help eradicate the disease.

So far, the report said only
$2.67 million has been contributed to the fund from Chile, France, India,
Liechtenstein, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Britain. Canada and Japan have
separately contributed $8.5 million to assist Haiti.

The Security Council voted
unanimously last month to end the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti in
mid-October after 13 years. The peacekeepers helped normalize a country in
chaos after political upheaval in 2004, but U.N. troops from Nepal were widely
blamed for introducing cholera to Haiti after a devastating earthquake in 2010.
The death toll as of April was over 9,500.

For years the U.N. had denied or
been silent on the longstanding allegations that it was responsible for the
outbreak, while responding to lawsuits in U.S. courts by claiming diplomatic
immunity. Last August, a U.S. appeals court upheld the United Nations' immunity
from a lawsuit filed on behalf of 5,000 Haitian cholera victims who blame the
U.N. for the epidemic.

After the ruling, then
secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he deeply regretted the suffering that
cholera has caused and the U.N. had a moral responsibility to the victims. He
later apologized for the U.N. not doing enough to contain the spread of cholera
and announced a new U.N. approach to eliminate the disease which sought to
raise $400 million.

Guterres asked the 193 U.N.
member states to consider voluntarily waiving the return of the $40.5 million
balance and credits in the 2015-16 budget for the Haiti peacekeeping mission
and put the money in the cholera trust fund.

In a renewed effort to raise
voluntary contributions, Guterres said he has also written to every member
state and has decided to appoint a high-level envoy "to develop a
comprehensive fundraising strategy." He said several countries have
responded to his letter "and some additional voluntary contributions are
anticipated."